Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-12-30
CHAPTER XIV.

CHATTER Nv.
TIE OLD NEGRO JAIL AT Gil. TTANooGA
The sufferings of northern prisoners ir
the south constitutes probably the most
terrible chapter in the history of the war
Attempts to soften the fearful story have
met with slight success. The lot of the
prisoner of war is always deplorable, as
accommodations are scanty and the hard.
ships of camp life greatly aggravated
But the Union prisoners in the south
suffered more than is usual in military
prisons. The southern states were
slenderly supplied with means for the
care of bodies of troops numbered by
thousands; the northern armies were
pressing severely and tightening the
blockade by sea and land with the express
design of depriving them of necessaries
for prosecuting the war, and in case of
scarcity it was natural that northern
prisoners would first suffer. But to this
was added terribly bitter feeling, which
sometimes found delight in gratuitously
embittering the prisoners lot. The hor-
rors of Andersonville cannot soon be
palliated or forgotten,
But the sufferings of ordinary prisoners
was far exceeded in the case of the An
drews raiders. Our leader had been
trusted by the enemy and had betrayed
them. We had inflicted an amount of
fright altogether disproportionate to our
numbers, and we were now believed to be
beyond the protection of the laws of war,
and almost beyond the pale of humanity.
1t was thought that we were selected for
our desperate character and therefore
would require an extraordinary amount
of guarding to prevent us from escaping
or doing further injury. Such considera-
tons no doubt had weight in the minds
of our captors.
But these alone are not sufficient to eX-
plain the story that follows. have hest
tated in regard to telling it at all; but
there is at least one good reason for re-
cording all that the propreties of Ian
guage will permit-a reason which also
goes far to account for the full horrors
experienced. Nothing better shows the
spirit of the institution of slavery, and
the debasing effect it produces on the
master class. Those in whose power we
now fell had been used to seeing men,
women and children publicly sold, whip
ped. hunted with dogs, or shut up like
wild beasts in dens. With such expert
ences they would not be likely to care
much for the sutlerinEs of enemies, whom
they had come to regard as the friends OF
the enslaved race. accordingly it is in
the negro prisons that our band found
their most fearful experiences.
The story of the little, old, Chattanooga
prison cannot be fully told. Terrible
hardships which had to be lived through
in agonies of shuddering disgust, and in
utterly helpless disregard of the decences
of life-a daily and unceasing combina-
ton of pain and loathing-can hardly be
told by one friend to another, much less
spread on the cold printed page. The
reader will remember that for every pain
full thing related, n dozen more are be-
hind, which dare not be named. Let it
be understood that there is no exaggera-
ton. Photographic accuracy, within the
limits already indicated, is aimed at.
This worst of all the prisons has long
since been swept away; but its memory
will never grow faint while one of its
hapless victims survives. The story rests
not alone on my evidence, but is estab-
lished by sworn testimony published in
the war records.
The captain, who was appointed my
conductor, called n guard of eight men
and led me for some distance through the
streets of Chattanooga. Two of the Con
federate soldiers linked arms with me,
one on each side, two walked in front
and four followed behind | could not
help telling the captain that they took
better care of our men than we did OF
theirs; that had once guarded Georgian
a long distance without any help, and
with no handouts on him. lie did not
resent the implied reproach, only saying
that they meant to make sure of mel Al
length we came to little brick building
surrounded by high board fence. II
stood, as | learned long afterward, on
Lookout street between Fourth and Fifth
The ground sloped rapidly upward, so that
the back of the Jail was built into the hill
while the front was level with the sur,
face of the ground. The Jail had two
stories with two rooms in each story. II
was quite high for its length and breadth
The jailer and family lived in the upper
and lower rooms at the north end, and
the rooms at the south were the prisons
the lower being entered only from the
upper, and that in turn only from the
jailer's room. This prison when built
was intended for the accommodation OF
negroes by their humane owners. An
other and much larger prison, in which
were confined the great majority of white
Offenders ana atterWard OF war prisoners,
was situated on Fourth and Market
streets.
Swims, the jailer, was a peculiar char
acter. He was old, perhaps 60, with
abundant white hair, and dry and with
cred face. His voice was always keyed
on whining tone, except when some
great cause, such as the requests of pris-
oners for an extra bucket of water,
aroused his ire, when it rose to hoarse
scream. Avarice was strong trait. He
seemed to think his accommodations
vastly too good for negroes and CYAN
KEGS" and that when admitted to his
hospitality they should be thankful and
give as little trouble as possible, With
such notions it is easily seen how much
he could add to the sufrerings of prison
ers, One tn ng favorable was that he
was fond of dram, and when INDUCING
became very talkatiye, revealing MANY